All wit and fancy, like a diamond, The more exact and curious ’tis ground, Is forced for every carat to abate As much of value as it wants in weight. _Butler._ 556. Listen, if you would learn; be silent, if you would be safe. _Arabic._ 557. All such distinctions as tend to set the orders of the state at a distance from each other are equally subversive of liberty and concord. _Livy._ 558. No man is the wiser for his learning. It may administer matter to work in, or objects to work upon, but wit and wisdom are born with a man. _Selden._ 559. Those who are guided by reason are generally successful in their plans; those who are rash and precipitate seldom enjoy the favour of the gods. _Herodotus._ 560. Whosoever lends a greedy ear to a slanderous report is either himself of a radically bad disposition or a mere child in sense. _Menander._ 561. A foolish man in wealth and authority is like a weak-timbered house with a too-ponderous roof. _R. Chamberlain._ 562. A lively blockhead in company is a public benefit. Silence or dulness by the side of folly looks like wisdom. _Hazlitt._ 563. Eminent positions make eminent men greater and little men less. _La Bruyère._ 564. Scratch yourself with your own nails; always do your own business, and when you intend asking for a service, go to a person who can appreciate your merit. _Arabic._ 565. The beauty of some women has days and seasons, depending upon accidents which diminish or increase it; nay, the very passions of the mind naturally improve or impair it, and very often utterly destroy it. _Cervantes._ 566. No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at the good fortune of a child. _Richter._ 567. Want and sorrow are the gifts which folly earns for itself. _Schubert._ 568. In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. _Longfellow._ 569. Those who cause dissensions in order to injure other people are preparing pitfalls for their own ruin. _Chinese._ 570.